Strong and Moving!

Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I have been known to use the "F word" when I spill my drink or hit my finger with a hammer. I suspect the producers of this otherwise decent movie were trying for a Guinness record: the most uses of the "F-word" in a feature film. It is needlessly excessive. There was not one character whose lips it did not pass; as a noun, as an adjective, as an adverb, as a one word sentence. More than once I was about to shut it down but decided to stick it out. It's interesting that there was no other profanity in the whole film. It is superbly photographed and captures the atmospheres of London, Amsterdam and Berlin. There's a bit of violence, some nudity and some sex. The English accents are sometimes hard to understand. And the plot is a bit contrived. Let's see. I tried to write the F-word here as an experiment and it set off an alarm bell, If I shouted it out in the theatre I likely would be ejected. Why then do we sanction its use (excessive use in this case) in the movies. One suspects the idea for this film was hatched in a junior high school bathroom.

I nominate this film for worst voice-over narration of all time. Director/star Frank Harper sounds like he has been forced to read out the phone book in its entirety. Talk about sleepwalking through a project, and it's his own bleeding film, guvnor. Now, Harper is no Danny Dyer, he more than looks the part when playing the London hard man and has been used to good effect by directors like Nick Love and Shane Meadows. Unfortunately, here he's directing himself in the sort of vanity project that would only get funded by the British film industry. He's recruited a veritable who's who of crap gangster and football hooligan films for St George's Day. And Keeley Hazell who gives one of the worst performances ever committed to celluloid. This truly awful effort takes you into a world of Peckham melts, ageing hooligans who keep going on about the war even though they've never been near one, uncharismatic, perma-tanned villains with a hard on for Churchill and cretinous hanger ons, just there to keep the idiotic plot ticking along. What do you mean, no thanks mate! This film is awesome in its crapness. It has no sense of its own absurdity, takes itself very seriously and is all the funnier for it. The only disappointment is that Danny Dyer doesn't turn up and glass a slag. Let's have a sequel please, set on Christmas Day!

St George's Day is directed by Frankie Harper, he also co-writes the screenplay with Urs Buehler and stars with Craig Fairbrass, Vincent Regan, Charles Dance, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Keeley Hazell, Jamie Foreman and Sean Pertwee. Music is by Tim Attack and cinematography is by Mike Southon.Frankie Harper, one of the most liked and recognisable faces from the slew of British gangster and football hooligan films, turns his hand to try and make his own mark in what is becoming a bulging genre of Brit film. The kicker here is that he blends the two popular lad staples together by having a plot involving gangsters using a football rumble as cover for a robbery. In Berlin, Germany, no less and St George's Day as well! Cor blimey!Plot is kind of incidental, which is just as well since it's not exactly a brains trust script. Film is filled out with the requisite amount of shouting, swearing, fighting, shooting, thieving, jingoism, sloganeering and lairy witticisms. Harper has surrounded himself with pals, clearly offering up reassuring presences to the budding director, while it's fun for fans of this splinter of Brit cinema to play spot the face. It's all very blokey and enjoyable enough for the undemanding, but the good idea on the page is not born out as the narrative often gasps for fresh air, the attempts at complexity ending up mundane.The cinematography is a highlight, with the number of Euro locations used giving good visual tonics. Cast perform adequately as per the material, though Moran, Fletcher, Dance and Pertwee are under used and therefore wasted. There's enough in here to suggest Harper could offer something of value as a director, but maybe a little less crass for crass sake should be jettisoned in favour of some intelligence in the writing. Dexter Fletcher's debut outing as a director, Wild Bill, is a good marker, Frankie would do well to follow his mate's lead. 6/10

Seeing way to many negative reviews on this one so simply had to put this out there and give it some credit. I always feel films like this are watched by a lot of people who are not familiar with its genre of film and actors etc. We have a few actors in this from Eastenders from example. We have some familiar faces from Football Factory & The Business. This is a movie you put alongside these types of films - Rise Of The Footsoldier, The Business, Football Factory, The Rise & Fall Of A White Collar Hooligan, Bonded By blood. If you know about these films then you know what your in for with this one and you will enjoy it! Great cast in this one and great narrating. I really don't know why there's so many negative reviews... i feel a lot of the London based gangster flicks get it. This one was on Sky Box Office recently and im sure people watch it without even knowing about this genre of film. Tut Tut. Great film.